CLEVELAND -- Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden and the rest of the Browns offense received a sobering Wake-up call in their opening day 23-10 loss to the Dolphins.

Weeden was picked off three times and sacked six, including 2.5 by Dolphins' end Cameron Wake, who terrorized Weeden all game.

"It's not the way we drew it up,'' said Weeden.

The best that can be said about Weeden in his second career opener is that his quarterback rating was way higher this time than his minor league baseball e.r.a of 5.02.

This year, it was 48.4 -- a vast improvement over the 5.1 he dropped on the Eagles as a rookie last year.

And this year, he threw only three interceptions instead of four.

But the results were exactly the same: another loss in another opener after leading 7-6 at halftime. It dropped the Browns to 1-14 in openers since their return, including 1-13 at home. It was also their ninth straight opening-day defeat and the first for new head coach Rob Chudzinski.

"Things didn't go great today,'' said Weeden. "Unfortunately it happens. It sucks. We didn’t play well enough, we missed too many opportunities. But I'm confident in our team. I'm confident in this group of guys we have and I'm excited moving forward. It's a long year and this one's over. We can't do anything about it.''

Weeden began the game with three first-half interceptions -- two by revenge-minded former Browns cornerback Dimitri Patterson -- and ended it by absorbing five of his six sacks in the second half. In between, he converted an appalling 1-of-14 third downs.

Overall, he completed only 49% of his passes (26-of-53) for 289 yards. He threw one touchdown pass against the three interceptions for the sub-par 48.4 rating.

The game was an episode of Hard Knocks for Weeden, who was hit a whopping 16 times, including six by sackmaster Wake, who lined up over Mitchell Schwartz and manhandled him and others. Wake is on pace to surpass his 15 sacks from a year ago.

"His resume speaks for itself,'' said Schwartz. "I just have to do a better job against him. For myself, it was a bad game.''

Weeden, who could barely take a step in the second half without getting drilled, doesn't recall ever getting hit that much before.

"I don't think so,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Weeden's fellow class of 2012 quarterback Ryan Tannehill overcame heavy pressure by the Browns defense -- including three first-half sacks -- to outscore the Browns 17-3 in the second half. He threw for 174 of his 272 yards after the break and stuck the dagger in with an 85-yard TD drive in the fourth quarter that ended on a 1-yard run by Daniel Thomas. He victimized cornerback Chris Owens on four of his six passes on the drives, including those for 24, 16 and 14 yards. He got hot with Canton native Brian Hartline, who caught 9 passes for 114 yards and a 34-yard TD.

"We tipped our hats,'' said safety Tashaun Gipson, who set up the Browns' lone TD with a pick and 29-yard return. "We had him bottled up so long and contained throughout the first half and mainly the third quarter. That (85-yard drive) drive kind of shifted the momentum from our defense to their offense. After that, they made good plays. They were playing pitch and catch out there.”

Things looked promising for Weeden at the outset, when he moved the Browns into Miami territory on the opening drive with a mix of some hard Trent Richardson running and a few short passes. But he was almost intercepted by Patterson, and then Nolan Carroll picked him off at the 1-yard line. Dannell Ellerbe pressured him on the third-down play and Weeden threw into double-coverage for Travis Benjamin to kill the buzz at FirstEnergy Stadium.

"We had a great first few plays,'' said Weeden. "We were rolling pretty good. Travis [Benjamin] on a deep ball, I’m going to take a shot. I thought I threw a good ball. I never saw the complete play, again I got hit. It was one-on-one, I like him running past anyone, he’s got that speed. (It's) just taking a shot, being aggressive. That’s what we are going to do and, unfortunately, they came down with it.”

The defense, electric in the first half, bailed Weeden out with a three-and-out, but the ineptitude continued. Benjamin dropped a third-down pass on the second drive and it was almost intercepted. By the time Weeden's first five possessions expired, he had been picked off three times and had gone three-and-out twice.

"Everybody's jacked up, trying to do a lot the first game out of the box, and you want to make something happen and you try to do too much sometimes,'' he said. "The mental errors are the ones we'll look back and reflect on more.

On Weeden's third drive, he fired a high, fastball to Greg Little, who bobbled and dropped it. Patterson dove, collected it and fell to the ground. It was first ruled incomplete, but the Dolphins challenged and won. Thanks to the stout Browns' defense, it was the only one of the Weeden's three picks that the Dolphins converted into points, and then only three.

"I thought was a good throw that went off of Greg's hands,'' said Chudzinski.

Weeden's third interception -- again by Patterson -- went off Jordan Cameron's hands on a pass thrown behind him. But Cameron pinned it on himself.

"I’ve got to make the play,'' said Cameron, who finished with a team-high nine catches for 108 yards. "It hit my hands. I've got to catch it.''

Amazingly, Weeden pulled it together enough to throw a 7-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Cameron in the back right of the end that put the Browns up 7-6 with 28 seconds left in the first half. The score was set up by Gipson's pick, on a pass tipped by D'Qwell Jackson.

"That was all on Brandon,'' said Cameron. "He threw it to a spot where no one else could get it.''

Weeden overcame two offensive penalties and a batted pass on the drive. He also got some help from a Patterson facemask and another defensive penalty.

"We had three turnovers and we're still up 7-6 at halftime,'' said Weeden. "That just shows you what kind of team you are. We can be in games, we've just got to keep fighting. We can't hurt ourselves.''

But who knew it would be the Browns' offensive highlight of the day? They converted only 1-of-9 third downs in the second half and mustered only a Billy Cundiff field goal in the third quarter that pulled them to within 13-10. Joe Haden dropped an interception on a deep ball on the first play of the second half saying "(stuff) happens'' and T.J. Ward -- who suffered a shoulder injury during the game and left briefly -- dropped one at the goal-line later in the third.

The Dolphins dialed up the pressure in the second half and the Browns had no answer for it. Weeden was strip-sacked once, but Joe Thomas fell on the loose ball. Schwartz struggled all game with Wake, and Oniel Cousins, a converted tackle subbing at right guard, committed four penalties, including a holding call that wiped out a Gary Barnidge touchdown in the fourth quarter.

"(Cousins)is the best we have and he’s going to get the job done for us,'' said Chudzinski. "I'm confident.''

Benjamin dropped a deep ball in Miami territory in the fourth quarter, and neither he nor Greg Little made anyone forget Josh Gordon, who's suspended the first two games for failing a drug test. Little caught only four of the 10 passes thrown his way for 26 yards and watched two glance off his hands. He was nowhere to be found in the locker room by the time reporters got in.

"The more weapons the better, let's not kid ourselves,'' Weeden said of not having Gordon. "He's a big-play threat, big-body guy. He has a lot of tools, but that's the hand we're dealt. I've got a lot of confidence in those guys. Even though Josh isn't there, we've got to keep moving.''

Richardson cooled off quickly after his blazing start, finishing with only 47 yards on 13 carries -- after gaining 26 yards on the first drive alone including runs of 9, 5 and 10 yards. He rushed only five times for 14 yards in the second half, and didn't carry the ball at all in the fourth quarter.

"Coach has a game plan, so whatever he calls I’m down with it,'' said Richardson. "We're all behind him. We got behind so we were chasing points the whole game.''

After the game, the refrain was the same one that Browns fans have heard for years: keep working hard, things will get better. But the Browns travel to Baltimore and Minnesota next.

"I'm still extremely excited,'' said Weeden. "I know the other 52 guys in that locker room are going to come in tomorrow and watch the tape, and be extremely hungry. There's no one guy obviously that's going to be satisfied. This is not the way we wanted to start. But this is a long football season. And we've got a good football team. We're going to scratch, claw, fight, do whatever we can to put ourselves in position to win games.''

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